Slurred GOP candidate wins party post

Harmeet Dhillon elected party vice chairman

As delegates to the California Republican Party convention voted Sunday for their future leaders, the party's outgoing leadership denounced recent "racist" comments against one of the candidates.

Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer from San Francisco, was elected to become the party's statewide vice chairman.

In a recent posting on Facebook, Dhillon was accused of sympathizing with terrorists by Vera Eyzendooren, president of the San Bernardino County Federation of Republican Women.

"I was told by one of Harmeet's friends that because of her religion, her loyalty is to the Muslim religion," wrote Eyzendooren. "So she will defend a Muslim beheading two men without hesitation ... she is not Republican."

Dhillon is a Sikh, who as a child moved to the United States from India.

"In any group of 1,600 delegates, you're going to have a few crazy people and bigots," Dhillon told KCRA 3.

Eyzendooren’s comments were denounced in a joint statement from party chairman Tom Del Beccaro, Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff and Assembly GOP leader Connie Conway: “Blatant racism has no place in the party of Lincoln. We strongly denounce this hateful speech in this and any other venue.”

Contacted by the San Francisco Chronicle, Eyzendooren said her comments had been taken out of context but declined to answer a reporter's questions.

Mark Standriff, the party spokesman, told KCRA 3 it would be up to the California Federation of Republican Women to decide if Eyzendooren should be punished.

The head of the federation said it would meet with Eyzendooren before making any decision.

"We are going to go by our bylaws and she has her chance and her opportunity as to why," said Carol Hadley, the federation's president.

Dhillon defeated Rodney Stanhope of Placerville.

"I can't believe that this is what we've been spending our time, wasting around, doing. In the meantime, we have a two-thirds super-majority of the Democrats in the State Capitol," said Stanhope.

Dhillon becomes the first woman and first Sikh to serve as vice chairman of the California Republican Party.

She said she wants the party to use technology to modernize its registration and outreach.

Delegates elected former state lawmaker Jim Brulte as the party's new chairman.

"If we are going to be successful at winning elections, we have to get out of our comfort zone and stop only talking to the choir and going and talking to the people who don't necessarily share our views, because if we share not only our head, but we share our heart, we will make converts," Brulte told the delegates after his election.

He said he will focus on fundraising and remaking the party's voter outreach and candidate recruitment.

Of particular concern is reaching Latinos, the fastest-growing segment of the electorate and a demographic that has generally shunned the party as its political clout has grown.

Brulte, from the Los Angeles suburb of Rancho Cucamonga, also promised to help the party regain seats in the Legislature, saying Democrats controlling both houses and the governor's office "is a recipe for disaster."

Copyright 2013 by KCRA.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.